Tony eventually gave up trying to get people's attention. He was invisible. Although he could send chills up people's spines, it was not enough to show them that he was there. He tried picking up a pen to write a message, but after several attempts, he could barely move it.
He was exhausted.
Tony collapsed on the bed, on top of his lifeless body, and thought about what to do next. He hated hearing Steve's cries, and everyone's worry and confusion.
He closed his eyes, not really expecting to dream or anything, but...
Wait a minute.
What's this?!
Tony opened his eyes, sitting up, scared to death. What did he just see?
"Ok...it's ok...you're still here, I mean, not really, but just..." He closed his eyes again.
It was dark...but there was this hazy fog on the ground. There seemed to be nothing surrounding him. An echo could be heard faintly in the distance, but Tony could not make out what it was.
Tony opened his eyes again to see he was back in the hospital.
Closed, he was here, in this...empty, void...with a whole lot of nothing.
"I see you're finally asleep, Stark."
Tony spun around, searching for the voice. "Hello?" He called out.
M'Baku came and knocked solemnly on the door of the hospital room.
"How is your friend?" He asked.
Bruce stood up, taking his glasses off to rub his strained eyes. "Stable...but he won't wake up. There's no medical reason for him to be asleep."
"Perhaps he is cursed?" The burly man thought.
"But why? We just fought a bunch of monsters, and Tony would've mentioned if Thanos cursed him with a sleeping beauty spell." Natasha said.
Steve's grip on Tony's now warm hand tightened slightly, his nerves getting the best of him.
Bruce immediately thought of something. "Oh no..."
"What?" Thor asked his friend.
"Um...well...hang on." Bruce went through the entire day, every moment he was with Tony...every bit of that fight...and who they fought.
"Did someone attack him?" Thor questioned.
"Yeah, all freaking day." Bruce mumbled.
"Was it the stab wound?" Steve wondered.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately." Bruce shook his head. "It was part of his suit that stabbed him."
Natasha held her stomach instinctively, dreading the thought of it.
"There was this alien...called himself Ebony Maw. Thor, you remember him? That preacher whose face looked like he got run over by a trolley?"
"Yes, that hideous creepy man..." Thor said. "His powers are quite impressive." He solemnly remembered what happened that morning...with Loki...
"What are you getting at?" Rocket was getting impatient. He seemed to have calmed down after his episode.
"He was not only freaky looking, but his telekinetic powers were unbelievable..." Bruce explained. "I've never seen anything like it." He looked apologetically to Steve. "He got really pissed at Tony for mouthing off to him."
Steve closed his eyes dreadfully thinking the worst.
"Great, Tony managed to piss off an evil wizard." Natasha rubbed her temples. "So what do you propose? True love's kiss to break the curse?"
Steve huffed, a hint of a smile forming on his face, but thought...maybe? With a blush on his cheeks, Steve shamelessly tried...and failed.
Tony continued to sleep peacefully, heart rate continuing on normal.
"Didn't hurt to try." Thor placed a comforting hand on his friend, who was gripping Tony's hand in both of his, resting his lips on the still fingers.
Thanos became more curious of this phenomenon. A man of science back in the day, he wanted to learn more. So, he appeared in Wakanda, taking in the surroundings. Freezing time itself, he walked around uninterrupted. He thought this place to be marvelous, humans being able to achieve such technology.
Just think how much farther they can go now without worrying about starving souls.
The Titan towered over people outside kneeling over piles of dust. People hugging each other as they cried for loved ones.
"Now is their time to mourn." He thought back to that girl who challenged him, right before he obtained the last stone...the Mind Stone. The poor thing tried so hard, she was powerful too. A worthy opponent, but she was gone along with half of all life.
He came across the Avengers, who looked to be in the process of loading a body into a ship. And not just anybody...
"Stark?" Thanos approached the still figure, noticing the other Avengers' worried and sad expressions.
Not dead. But in a coma?
The Soul Stone gleamed. Thanos thought for a second.
Half of all life...half...
"I wonder..." He stared into the face of his enemy, remarking the man's strained expression, as if in torment and pain.
"What must it be like to live in between life and death?"
Thanos returned to The Garden, as time continued to spin accordingly in Wakanda.
Steve continued to pray over Tony as the ship carried them back home. T'Challa thought it best they all returned to where everyone, especially Tony, could at least be more comfortable.
But home was so far away...in the past. Steve had been on the run this whole time, nightmares chasing him without anyone there to comfort him. And when this Thanos came and took all of the Stones, just when all hope seemed lost, he was finally reunited with his husband and found out he was an adoptive father.
Then the rug was pulled out from under him again when people started dying and Tony would not wake up.
Steve did not think he could take much more.
FRIDAY let everyone back into the compound, reviewing the database on all updated info on each member of the Avengers.
They set Tony up in the medical bay, Bruce constantly monitoring vitals, and Thor trying to come up with theories as to how to break this curse that seemed to have been thrown upon their friend.
Natasha tried to get Steve to eat, to sleep...but there was no convincing the man the sun had risen on a new day.
Because Tony was not dead, that much they knew.
But what was keeping him away from them?
What was going on inside his head?
"Tony..."